I don't know, but my guess would be "free soloing". Basically, climbing up a rock face with no safety equipment. Enthusiasts keep track of speed records for popular climbs. Records are often proven with personal gopro footage, eye witness, etc.
I wonder what 'personal' means in his context though. A lot of the big speed runs, el cap, that face in squamish, are pretty established and not a super personal experience, like say picking your favorite one pitch and doing it.
But I am shocked at how many climbers I know who free solo more than 40 feet off the deck...
Close. Custom built electric skateboards. If I say much more I’ll doxx myself (pretty much already have on this account, oh well, drgaf)
At the time I believe he hit 47mph on flat land with completely smooth pavement. As a community we’ve now hit 54mph clocked on an actual speed radar uphill, slightly above 54mph uphill on GPS (but we don’t brag about GPS readings - while they’ve often been spot on, we’ll always say +/-2mph for them), 67 mph on flat land…
Uphill was on custom poured rubber tires. 67mph flat land was on store available urethane wheels. Keep in mind that’s all electric with no energy from an initial downhill start.
We’ve skated with three of the four downhill record holders of 90mph+… they’re fucking insane in general, & the first time we put one on a custom eboard he hit 44mph flat land & stable with ease (steez)
On the note of danger… we’ve had somebody die from a 14mph flat land crash… yet my friend completely walked away from a 47mph crash wearing only a helmet and tumbling 360* four times… crashes over 40-45 mph in general get pretty fucking gnarly, I’ve seen a few people become seriously disabled or have to completely leave the sport from one, & all of the top dudes of the community wear full leather & more now that they’re pushing past 50mph.
It’s definitely fun stuff. There are some speeds you just shouldn’t be going on a plank of wood. As for me, I’ve clocked 48mph flat land on gps, 45 on radar speed trap. I got into the low 40’s roughly three months in to the hobby, but going past that is not particularly something I’m focused on at this point in my life. Over 45 mph on anything but perfectly smooth road (aka not often) gets to be genuinely scary & induces hardcore tunnel vision. Uphill & flat land is so much different than downhill. A speed wobble @ 38mph steep uphill may have genuinely been the scariest experience in my life, & I’ve had a gun in my face.
If I had to warrant a guess I'm gonna say it's wingsuit flying. I can imagine his friend living at the top of a mountain putting on his squirrel suit to get one last glimpse of Hawaii before shit hits the fan.
